


Number One Fan

by ActualMercy



Series: XiaoDan Kanemaru [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActualMercy/pseuds/ActualMercy
Summary: It was the pot calling the kettle black, though, when she saw the Champion of Galar appear on the screen. He was positively the definition of flashy (especially with the cape), but there was something about Leon that struck a chord in XiaoDan that left her silent in a manner different from her usual. For the first time, she was completely starstruck, and her friend’s voice was drowned out with how focused she was on the television.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Original Character(s), Dande | Leon/Original Female Character(s), Kibana | Raihan/Original Character(s), Kibana | Raihan/Original Female Character(s)
Series: XiaoDan Kanemaru [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707973
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Number One Fan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ze_z_zi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ze_z_zi/gifts).



> This is all self indulgent because I've been influenced by Ze to treat myself and just do it because what good will it do if my stuff is just sitting collecting dust in GoogleDocs.

It all started with Ze introducing her to Pokemon Battles during the week they met: she was helping the DayCare Owner with tending to her business, as payment for a favor she owed. XiaoDan knew enough about them to be aware they existed, but apart from that, she knew nothing. The first few battles were watched through Ze’s RotomPhone: but, on the night of an exhibition match, they spectated through XiaoDan’s television. At that point, she still didn’t understand the excitement, but it was nice to see her challenger friend explaining something so passionately.

Granted, XiaoDan didn’t understand why her new friend was so interested in Raihan, who she deemed a bit too flashy for her interests. But, that was another question for another time.

It was the pot calling the kettle black, though, when she saw the Champion of Galar appear on the screen. He was positively the definition of flashy (especially with the cape), but there was something about Leon that struck a chord in XiaoDan that left her silent in a manner different from her usual. For the first time, she was completely starstruck, and her friend’s voice was drowned out with how focused she was on the television.

* * *

By the time the week was over, XiaoDan was back at the front of her DayCare preparing to close up as Ze prepared herself to get picked up: someone she knew would be coming to get her, and the taller woman made it a point to be the first one in contact with them. After what happened the day they met, she refused otherwise.

So imagine her surprise when she saw the great gym leader of Hammerlocke walk in through her door. There wasn’t much she needed to verify, if it was him who walked in.

XiaoDan had barely finished calling for Ze to come out before realizing that there was another figure- one that stood about a head shorter than the gym leader who she realized stood at the same height as her, when they approached the counter. Everything seemed to freeze the moment jade met with warm gold, and the DayCare Owner realized that she was face to face with Galar’s own champion.

Needless to say, she was completely speechless as Ze came out from the back and met happily with Raihan. 

The usually stoic XiaoDan found her cheeks heating up just the slightest bit as she caught herself staring, and turned her attention to Ze so she could give a proper thanks for helping out at the DayCare for the week. It was the quickest distraction she had, but the damage was done- there was a faint tinge of pink on her cheeks, to match the sudden race of her heart. Was this what being starstruck was like?

But, the feeling was mutual, it seemed.

The great Champion of Galar, Leon, found himself staring right back at the woman behind the counter, and it took a good amount of Raihan’s strength to pull him away so that they could make their way back to Hammerlocke- the sun was quickly setting, and it was best to leave while they had what light they did. Perhaps that was a mistake, though, that Raihan didn’t let his friend and rival get out of his system what had quickly built up: because now, he was walking on Route 5 with Ze being bombarded with questions about her new friend. How did they meet? What was her name? What was her favorite Pokemon? Did she like to battle? Was she singl-

An executive decision was made as Raihan handed his Torkoal, on hand from some earlier training, to Leon in its ball. He had forgotten to drop it off at the DayCare, was the excuse, so could he be a pal and drop it off for him?

The question was met with an all too eager u-turn, and finally Leon was out of Raihan and Ze’s hair.

His return to the DayCare barely 15 minutes after leaving allowed the champion to be welcomed with the smell and sounds of cooking- good enough to rival Sonia’s, if not better (oh, she would kill him if she heard him say that). Had the DayCare closed for the night and he had missed the sign? A quick peek of the outside let Leon know that wasn’t the case. A call of his voice to see if XiaoDan was still there, and he was delighted to find her emerging from the back. Silence seemed to be her specialty, he noticed, but it made the champion that much more excited to hear her speak when he handed her the Torkoal and listened to her welcoming it to her little home for the next few days.

He swore that he saw a hint of a smile curl onto those lips of hers, in that moment.

* * *

From there, his visits became more and more frequent- often at night, when the day was done and he could find what little time he had to himself. His lacking sense of direction never seemed to be as prominent, when he was making his way to the DayCare. It could have been the scent of something always cooking that led him to the house standing in the middle of Route 5, it could have been that Charizard was contributing in helping him find his way to where she was, or it simply could have been fate.

Whatever the reason, XiaoDan very quickly became accustomed to seeing Leon on an almost nightly basis, and short conversations that would last a few minutes at a time while she closed the DayCare for the night quickly turned into invitations to dinner. Soon enough, there came a point between them that instead of bading Leon a good night after dinner, they would be sitting on her sofa talking late into the evening. It mostly circulated around battling, especially when it evolved from simple inquiries about type matches and strategies to watching replays of Leon’s old matches and he would point things out to her: everything she had a question about, he had an answer to. But, she didn’t mind in the slightest. XiaoDan even found herself smiling, the longer these talks went on.

Their nights would go later and later, and their positions in the conversation began to switch over the course of time. Now, Leon found himself asking questions about _her_ , and from what she would tell him, he would ask more: what her favorite food was, what her favorite Pokemon is, why she chose Galar…

~~If there was anyone else she shared these moments with.~~

His questions were reflected with her own of the same: he quickly learned that she wanted to know about his interests and his favorites as much as he did of her, and late night lessons about Pokemon evolved further to falling asleep on the sofa mid-conversation, her head on his shoulders and his head against hers.

By the time they realized it, the night was no longer young, but day had yet to come. Gold met with jade, and there was a silent understanding that tonight would be the first Leon was going to spend with her. Neither said anything, and the only noise was the soft creak of the sofa as they rearranged themselves to be more comfortable; Leon laying back with his arms loosely around XiaoDan, and her head at his chest. How two people as tall as they were could fit on a single sofa was a question without an answer, but they were content.

That little bit of joy remained when sunrise came and Leon woke to find XiaoDan’s head nuzzled against his shoulder, and she woke to feel his arms holding her closely against him. Their faces were barely inches apart when they looked towards each other, and yet all they could do was exchange sleepy smiles before closing their eyes once more to sleep the day away together.

Just five more minutes of this simple happiness.

* * *

The fact that Leon couldn’t stop talking about her was the first sign that Raihan had to realize that his friend and rival was, to say the least, completely besmitten by the DayCare owner. For once, he wasn’t talking about battles or how long his legacy has been, how long it will be: for once, he was talking about things completely unrelated to battling, and it took around forty-five minutes before the dragon gym leader finally lost some semblance of patience and told Leon to just ask her out, already. They were acting the part enough, with how often Leon spent his time with her- why not just make it official?

Raihan’s suggestion was met with surprise -as if Leon hadn’t realized that was an option in the first place- and a promise to lunch if things went as well as the champion was expecting them to.

On the opposite side, XiaoDan -who had finally learned from Leon how to properly use her RotomPhone- was more aware about the feelings she’d come to have for Galar’s Champion. Phone calls and face-to-face chats let Ze learn from her friend that the DayCare owner was very, very cognizant of the fact that she was falling for Leon. This should have been good news, but the hesitation in XiaoDan’s voice and the way her face, stoic as ever, couldn’t stop looking downwards from the RotomPhone’s camera made it seem otherwise. Was she even deserving of this? She was just a normal person, and he was… Well, the Champion of Galar. Wouldn’t this bring negative attention, that he would essentially be dating a nobody, and an immigrant, no less?

Ze was quick to put a stop to what she deemed as nonsense- being a celebrity meant coming with all sorts of negative attention: whether or not Leon cared about that was his problem.

It was blunt, but it was enough to motivate XiaoDan to stop Leon as he was preparing to head out after he had spent the night again. Her hand was holding tightly onto his, and the air became tense with unspoken words filling her chest as the normally stoic DayCare owner found herself very quickly losing her composure and breaking down before him.

“I… I want to be Leon’s number one fan, always!”

The fact that Leon’s face seemed to go completely blank was all XiaoDan needed to know that she had messed up. Why did she say that? Of all of the words in her vocabulary, why did she have to tell him her feelings in what was quite literally the _least_ direct way possible? She was beating herself up at that point: would he understand? Of course he wouldn’t- he had plenty of fans. At best, he would just take this as just another endearing statement of loyalty from an admiring follower.

Nerves and approaching tears clouded her vision, and she didn’t realize that the man before her was turning positively red. It was as if Leon were a RotomPhone that had begun blue screening- his face going from confusion to surprise to utter disarray in a matter of seconds when he registered exactly what it was that XiaoDan was trying to tell him.

His heart began to race to the point that it seemed to threaten bursting out of his chest if he didn’t say anything in the coming seconds. And, without thinking, he took her hands into his to give a light squeeze and bring her attention back to him. The way her eyes seemed to glisten and signal impending tears only made his chest feel tighter than it already was. He had never seen her cry, but he couldn’t bear the thought of it. He wanted to make her smile- and he knew full well what he had to say to see that again: it was about time, anyhow.

“Then I’ll be your number one fan, too.”

And, now, it was Leon’s turn to berate his inner self for saying something so… Nonsensical. She wasn’t even a gym challenger- what fans did she have?!

It seemed that a common denominator between them was that they were, equally, idiots in their own right regarding romance.

But, the message was delivered, and there was silence between them for a long, long moment before XiaoDan was the first to break it- her composure completely gone as she broke down into a laugh that sounded like wind chimes against spring bloom to Leon’s ears, and he knew full well that even when she began falling to her knees and crying, there was everything good about it. He couldn’t stop himself from breaking into his own laugh and knelt down before her, leaning his head forward so that their foreheads touched and they could share a moment between only the two of them that they were glad no one else had to witness.

Their laughter soon faded to an end, and the two found themselves feeling like absolute fools- but, they were fools together. By this point, his hands cradled her face to keep her looking up at him, his thumbs wiping against her cheeks to clear away her tears and let him see that smile of hers. Time seemed to stop in that moment, as XiaoDan’s hands found Leon’s, and the heaviness in the air lifted to a lighthearted happiness. At that moment, neither of them wanted time to start moving again. Just five more minutes of this simple happiness.

But, they knew stopping time was only a silly dream. Instead, they could move forward together.

And so, they did.

Without another word uttered, they shared a kiss: their very first, and prologue of more to come, if either of them could help it.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, the entire scene had been witnessed by Ze and Raihan, who both had run into each other in front of the DayCare: Ze to drop off a Pokemon for XiaoDan, and Raihan who had come to find Leon and cash in his lunch ticket early. Curiosity had them playing spy at the edge of her door, and the confession was very easily overheard by Gym Leader and Gym Challenger alike. Of course, stealth was still the name of the game, and when Raihan could sense Ze’s impending outburst at how cliche cute their friends were being, it ended with Hammerlocke’s gym leader holding her mouth shut as she lost herself in the moment of their silly confession.

Stealth was no longer the name of the game, but at the very least, Leon and XiaoDan were far too distracted in their own world to realize what was happening just ten feet away.

Oh, to be young and in love.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not done yet kids there's a lot more self indulgence on the way.


End file.
